REVIEW: 2013 Porsche Panamera 4

One of the most iconic car brands, without a doubt, is Porsche. From the 356 to the Cayenne to the Panamera (and all 50 years of the 911), Porsche has been setting the bar high for competitors and the design of their cars shows no bounds.

Thanks to Jake at Town Porsche in Englewood, we were able to get into the Panamera 4, Porsche’s 4-door fastback sedan and drive it around New Jersey for the day. With a Black exterior and Luxor Beige interior, we were excited to get on the road! Driving around the winding roads of Alpine & Englewood Cliffs’ Palisades Interstate Park (and having to maneuver around crater-sized potholes), the Panamera really hugged the turns and kept its feet planted firmly on the ground.

 

With a 300 horsepower V6 engine, producing 295 lb-ft. of torque, the Panamera 4 shoots to 60 in under 6 seconds. When engaged in Sport Plus mode, the shifts of the transmission were lightning quick and the responsiveness of the vehicle was astronomical.

Our Panamera test car came fully loaded with every option in the book, including the Premium Package which includes Porsche Active Suspension Management and Bi-Xenon headlights with Porsche’s Dynamic Light System and ParkAssist (Front and Rear) with reverse camera. Also included in the Premium Package are heated seats (front and rear), heated steering wheel and Power Steering Plus (where at speed, the steering gets tighter for more control).

Additional interior features included 14-way(!) power-seats with memory, front seat ventilation and an analog/digital stopwatch with driver modes that include engine mapping, steering, suspension, traction control and more. Audio features included SiriusXM, a 6-disc CD changer, and a whopping 14 Bose® speakers and amplifier. Pricing for the base Panamera starts in the high $70k’s and for the Turbo S, it can climb to well over $200,000.

We thought the Panamera 4 was a great car — with all-wheel-drive, performance and the looks, what more could you want from a luxury-performance car?

Pros: Stylish and luxurious, acceleration and shifting in Sport Plus mode, great Bose audio system, sensors around the car letting you know when you are too close to objects or cars.

Cons: Shifting using the buttons on the steering wheel took some getting used to.

QUICK FACTS:

Base Price: $78,100 || Price as Tested: $92,815

Vehicle Layout: Front-engine, 4-passenger, 4-door sedan

Engine: 3.6L 300hp, 295-lb. ft., V6 || Transmission: 7-speed automated manual

Curb Weight: 4,012 lbs || Length/Width/Height: 195.7/76.0/55.8 inches

0-60: 5.8 seconds  || EPA City/Highway Fuel Economy: 18/26 mpg

RATING: 8.7/10

Exterior: 9

Interior: 9

Acceleration: 9 

Braking: 9

Ride: 8

Handling: 9 

Gearbox: 9

Audio: 10

Tech: 9

Value: 7

We’d like to thank Jake Semon at Town Porsche for getting us into the new Panamera 4! For all your Porsche needs, go check out Town Porsche in Englewood, NJ and online at www.town-motorcar.porschedealer.com. Make sure you tell them Greg and Dave sent you!

REVIEW: 2013 Lincoln MKZ
When you think of Lincoln, you probably think of the Town Car (commonly driven by the elderly) or the Navigator (commonly driven by soccer moms). With Lincoln’s new MKZ, they’ve expanded their market to appeal to a younger audience.We stopped at Town Motors in Englewood and picked up our Lincoln for the day, drove it around Northern New Jersey and simply put, we loved it.

Our MKZ came with the Ecoboost I4 which produced 240 horses and had a brutish 270 pound-feet of torque which propelled the car to 60 in just over 7 seconds. The MKZ came equipped with heated mirrors, LED headlamps and taillights, 10-way front driver’s and passenger’s seats, Ford Motor Company’s SYNC with MyTouch system, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, power moonroof, keyless entry with external keypad, and push button start with push button gear selection as well. Our test vehicle also had Equipment Group 101A which includes the rear view video camera and reverse sensing system.

The finishings of the Special Edition vehicle include a silver exterior with charcoal leather interior and a walnut wood trim.

We thought that even though the car has a 4-cylinder engine, it accelerated like that of a 6-cylinder. (The MKZ is available with a V6 engine also). We LOVED that Lincoln brought back the push-button gear selection, reminiscent of cars from the 50s and 60s. The only thing we weren’t so fond of in the car was the entertainment system and dash controls — with the touch screen and the sliding your finger over the volume bar proving to be a little cumbersome, but a lot of the other features in the car made up for it. At a base price of just under $36,000, you get a great amount of equipment in a reliable, luxury American car.

Pros: The new style for 2013, acceleration with the Ecoboost, comfortable and spacious, individual buttons for gear selection, great audio system and had a lot of storage compartments.
Cons: Navigating the entertainment system proved to have some challenges.
QUICK FACTS:
Base Price: $35,925 || Price as Tested: $40,950
Vehicle Layout: Front-engine, AWD, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
Engine: 2.0L, 240hp, 270 lb-ft., I-4 EcoBoost || Transmission: 6-speed SelectShift Automatic with Paddle Shifters
Curb Weight: 3874 lbs || Length/Width/Height: 194.1/83.3/58.1 inches
0-60: 7.1 seconds || EPA City/Highway Fuel Economy: 18/26mpg  
RATING: 8.4/10
Exterior: 9
Interior: 8
Acceleration: 8 
Braking: 9
Ride: 9
Handling: 9 
Gearbox: 9
Audio: 8
Tech: 7
Value: 8
We’d like to thank Ted Siebold of Town Motors in Englewood, NJ for getting us into the 2013 Lincoln MKZ. For all your Lincoln needs, go check out Town Lincoln in Englewood, NJ and online at http://www.townmotors.com. Make sure you tell them Greg and Dave sent you!

NYIAS Recap

Sore feet is an understatement. We spent UMPTEEN hours at the show last night and didn’t leave until 10PM and the show was still going strong. We might venture back this weekend to finish up what we may have missed, but the show was incredibly AWESOME, AMAZING and UNBELIEVABLE! So many new cars being debuted (some good, some not so good), an SRT Viper pretty much sideways on a ramp and a few Russian women signing some posters for Russian tuner Devolro.

Here’s a picture of me and Dave, schmoozing with the upper echelon in the Rolls Royce booth.

20130329-105720.jpg

…oh and here’s a Bugatti Veyron.

20130329-105809.jpg

REVIEW: 2013 Nissan Altima 3.5 SL

When you think of Nissan, you think of a safe and economical car. When you see the Altima, you immediately think of something fun and stylish — and that’s exactly what the Altima is. Thanks to East Coast Nissan we were able to drive the 2013 Altima and now, here we are, to tell you what we thought.

Not only does the 2013 Altima look good — it also feels good. With styling cues from the current Maxima, Nissan has really come a long way from having the Altima being a boring sedan to something cool.

With a 270 horsepower V6 (and a standard I4 available), the Altima proved to be very peppy. It has Nissan’s Xtronic Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) with paddle shifters. Now, I know what you’re thinking — “CVT? That’s terrible!”. I’ve driven cars with CVT’s before and normally, I wasn’t a fan of them, but Nissan’s CVT I actually didn’t have any problems with — as a matter of fact, I actually enjoyed it, especially with the rapid response paddle shifters. Shooting from 0-60 in 6.2 seconds is also something to boast about.

Our Altima was equipped with stylish 18″ alloy wheels, heated exterior mirrors and Xenon headlights on the outside. On the inside, it has Nissan’s Advanced Drive-Assist display (which wasn’t very easy to read) but if you pony up for the navigation system and larger screen, it’s much better. The interior was very comfortable, with black leather appointments, heated front seats and heated leather-wrapped steering wheel. Technology included Nissan’s intelligent key system, which is where you have the key fob in your pocket, and you can simply unlock/lock the doors with a button on the door handle and start the car with the push-button start. Additional technology included a 9-speaker BOSE premium sound system, Sirius XM Radio, Reverse Camera, USB Connection and Bluetooth.

We thought this car was great, being one of our top picks, and extremely affordable at $31,880.

Pros: The Altima was very comfortable and had a smooth ride. The options that came with the car were the best bang for your buck — an almost fully loaded Altima for under 32 grand. In sport mode, the shifts were quick and responsive — even the CVT was enjoyable.

Cons: The only downfall of this car was the screen in the dash– without the technology package (which has a larger screen and a navigation system, among other things), the screen has a great amount of glare and the reverse camera was hard to see.

QUICK FACTS:

Base Price: $21,760 || Price as Tested: $31,880

Vehicle Layout: Front-engine, FWD, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan

Engine: 3.5L, 270-hp, 258-lb-ft. V6 || Transmission: Xtronic CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission)

Curb Weight: 3355 lbs || Length/Width/Height: 191.5/72/57.9 inches

0-60: 6.2 seconds || EPA City/Highway Fuel Economy: 22/31mpg

RATING: 8.2/10

Exterior: 9

Interior: 9

Acceleration: 9

Braking: 8

Ride: 8

Handling: 8

Gearbox: 7

Audio: 8

Tech: 7

Value: 9

We’d like to thank Maritza Acosta at East Coast Nissan for getting us into the new Altima! For all your Nissan needs, go check out Nissan in Englewood Cliffs, NJ and online at http://www.eastcoastnissan.com. Make sure you tell them Greg and Dave sent you!